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Doors of Perception: Icons and Their Spiritual Significance

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In his preface John Baggley writes: "It may well seem strange that an Anglican parish priest should write an introductory book on icons. After all, icons are hardly a part of English Christian tradition. The tradition to which icons belong is a complex one, and one that is alien to many Western Christians."

Thus begins a thoroughly researched, well written and sympathetic introduction for Western readers to the icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church. As a matter of fact, this book is so highly regarded by the Orthodox, it has been published in United States by one of our premier Orthodox publishers, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.

"Doors of Perception" is divided into three parts: the main body of Baggley's text covering historical, biblical, spiritual, visual and environmental aspects of iconography; followed by Richard Temple's interesting essay on the painting of icons; and finally a series of seventeen plates, with an informative commentary on each icon. This latter section pretty much follows highlights of the Orthodox liturgical year.

I would recommend this to people from the Western tradition who may be curious about icons and their role in Eastern Orthodox worship, or to people--like me--who, after a life in the Western Christian tradition, have decided to "face East." I would even recommend this to those interested in icons as religious art (although the Orthodox don't view it as such), or to those interested in art history.

This book provides a Christian take on icons. Many books on icons are written by art historians, who have different view of the subject. Baggley starts with a historical overview that requires quite a bit of background knowledge to fully grasp, then turns to a comparison of three icons with the Bible - the Transfiguration, the Raising of Lazarus and the Descent into Hell - to argue that icons do reflect what is in the Bible. Then comes a chapter on how the Orthodox interpret the Bible allegorically rather than historically. I found this interesting, as being raised Protestant I experienced the kind of Bible study that had timelines, colored maps, and concordances. This isn't too different from academic textual studies today. The Orthodox approach, according to Baggley, is to look at Bible stories as timeless allegories.

The most interesting chapters for me were the ones on "The Spirituality of Icon Painters" and the "Visual Language of Icons." Here the author emphasizes the importance of stillness and attentiveness to Orthodoxy and analyses the visual themes found in icons. Then, after a section on how icons are painted, written by Richard Temple, there are 18 plates of icons with Baggley's commentary placing them in the context of Christian history and theology.

This was the first time I'd read about icons not from an art historical point of view and I found it very interesting. For people without lots of background knowledge on Orthodox history, I'd recommend starting with the chapter on the spirituality of icon painters and go from there, as that provides an excellent introduction even to beginners.